Instrumentation and Control Project for NB Power
Release Date: September 14, 1998
UNB News Release: B62
NB POWER SAVES $$$ THANKS TO UNB STUDENT
As of this month, NB Power will be saving $100,000 or more a year, thanks
to the efforts of its staff and a student from the University of New
Brunswick in Fredericton.
Saied Salamat Sharif, a PhD student in the department of electrical and
computer engineering, has aided NB Power in tailoring a commercial software
program that will increase the efficiency of power distribution around the
province.
"The idea came from NB Power," says Mr. Salamat Sharif. "The software
program wasn't running at the time we made our proposal because it wasn't
user friendly and it had some deficiencies."
Mr. Salamat Sharif had worked with similar research software during the
first two years of his doctoral studies. After completing a cost-benefit
study, he and his supervisor, Jim Taylor, came up with a proposal for a
joint project with NB Power.
The long hours devoted to the project will result in a new tool for the
utility's power system operators, one that allows them to optimize the
power flow of the system and reduce costly transmission losses.
"Saied certainly provided us with a valuable resource and I believe we were
able to offer him the benefits of our experience in operating a modern
power system. We operate in an efficient manner, but there are always
better ways of doing things," says NB Power Manager Brian Scott.
The savings are significant to NB Power, as the Corporation has been
looking at efficiency and productivity improvements in all facets of its
operation.
The project would not have been possible in some areas of Canada, according
to Mr. Sharif Salamat. NB Power has a highly developed system that allows
for data from the field to be acquired and analyzed in central computers.
"It's easy for a computer to recommend that the system be adjusted, but the
changes may have to be made manually in other systems - and this can be
very time consuming," Dr. Taylor says. "With NB Power's existing
infrastructure, they can do it automatically," he says. The newly adjusted
software will allow for changes to be made in field hardware as soon as a
change in the power flow is needed.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact amount NB Power will save since there
are factors such as operation workload and load forecasting that do not
permit complete optimization at all times. The estimate of $100,000 per
year is a conservative fraction of the potential or ideal result of the
cost-benefit study.
Mr. Sharif Salamat worked with NB Power staff until late August to aid in
training and to get the project off the ground. An international student
from Iran, he began his PhD studies at UNB in 1993. He completed both his
master's and his undergraduate work in engineering in Iran.
Contact: UNB Office of Development and Public Relations, (506) 453-4793
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Information posted by: Jim Taylor
Last update: 1999 January 10
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Jim Taylor (jtaylor@unb.ca)
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